Tuesday, May 19, 2015

For Want of Wonder ~ Summer UnGoogled

The world will never starve for want of wonders;

but only for want of wonder.

~ G. K. Gesterton

Every spring I marvel at the earth's transition from the stark, bland, bareness of winter into a colorful, lush abundance. It's as though the long months of short, dark days somehow drown out the most fond memories we have of warmth and green and bright, making spring's entrance all the more profound experience for the watchful, waiting soul.

The countryside's landscape of crops and pastureland is particularly fruitful right now, as we have experienced the blessing of plentiful rains. Last weekend, heaven's showers filled to the peak ponds and creeks all across the county.

First sightings of sunshine meant all of the kids, who had been patiently waiting out the storms, could wait not a second longer to charge out into the overflow that ran like a mini-river along the edge of town.

Our boys spent the entire day on Sunday, perched on whatever they could find to keep them afloat, which included snowboards, buckets and Dollar Store inner tubes. For hours, they floated carefree in the shallow current, their joy-soaked souls beaming through bright smiles.

Charlie was especially fun to watch that day. He is our little tender-heart, often timid and apprehensive when it comes to trying new things. But, as long as he is close to Andrew, his bravery soars. I dearly love how brotherly love inspires courage in the little ones.

Watching the boys run wildly, tirelessly up and down the mini-river, splashing and spinning on the tubes, even scouring the creek bottom for crawdads really made me pine for an unplugged, unhurried, uneventful summer. A summer of real wonder, exploration, discovery, appreciation, even boredom.

I have always felt that boys, much more than girls, need to have a time and space where they can be free. Free to be themselves. Free to live fully their wild, energetic nature without being told over and over again to settle down, be still and be quiet. Don't underestimate the value in this, moms. I believe that when our sons are allowed this time of freedom, the expectations we have of them to enter our homes in an orderly fashion is much more attainable for them, and for us.

Sunday's experience has left me longing for every opportunity for the boys to flee the confines of the school house and soak in all the unplanned, unstructured, unPinterested adventures that await them in the tops of trees, piles of dirt, cumulus cloud skies. I long for them to seek out and discover all of the possibilities that lie hidden in the plethora of boardgames, water guns, sleeping bags, bicycles and junk piles strewn about their little world.

I long also for three months without Google. Something a little more like the life I knew as a child. A life where wonder leads to questions and questions lead to contemplation and contemplation leads to answers, and if not answers then a deeper thirst for knowledge and understanding. And, if knowledge and understanding are not the fruits that bloom of wonder and contemplation, but rather a soul content with mystery, then mystery it is.

Steve and I have spent hours upon hours discussing all the possible ways we can encourage and support wonder, curiosity and a sense of adventure in our boys. We also talk about our failures as parents to keep them from, or at least limit those things that rob their sense of wonder, such as electronics, too many structured activities or trying to come up with solutions for their whining and boredom instead of allowing their personal discomfort and disenchantment to be motivation enough.

But, how do we get them to a place of wonder, you ask? What do you guys think about kicking 'em outside with a bottle of sunscreen and a bucket of Kool-Aid? I think that's exactly what our parents did to us, and hey! We survived! (Don't forget to lock the doors.)

Give me some of that wonder and a cold beer to sip while I watch my boys ramble home hungry and happy, and it's going to be one fine summer y'all!

4 comments:

Our boys would have a grand time together. This is exactly the way I have raised my kids. Be outside. Explore. Even (and especially) in the rain. Letting them run and climb and jump and wrestle without a parent hanging over them telling them no or be careful is sometimes difficult for our motherly hearts, but it is what our kids need to open their minds, to learn independence, to gain self-esteem...so many good qualities for them to take with them when they leave our home. It was easy to have this sort of summer when the kids were younger. The only schedule we had was one that I set. Now, with high school kids, coaches and the kids themselves make schedules that I have to work inside. It is a bummer, but it just makes me guard the time we have even more. Taking them to a new park to explore always works. :)

We are taking the summer off from sports and school work, for the most part. I have been known to lock them out, with water guns in hand. Never in a million years did I think I would lock my kids out of the house! Toddler lost all remote control, so now we are tv-less. It is pretty nice actually!

We are taking the summer off from sports and school work, for the most part. I have been known to lock them out, with water guns in hand. Never in a million years did I think I would lock my kids out of the house! Toddler lost all remote control, so now we are tv-less. It is pretty nice actually!

We are taking the summer off from sports and school work, for the most part. I have been known to lock them out, with water guns in hand. Never in a million years did I think I would lock my kids out of the house! Toddler lost all remote control, so now we are tv-less. It is pretty nice actually!